Hexagram 10: Treading → Hexagram 32: Duration

Treading
Heaven / Lake
Duration
Thunder / Wind
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 5, 6).

Line 1

初九 素履往。无咎。

simple
treading
wǎngforward
nothing
jiùwrong

Nine at the beginning means: Simple conduct. Progress without blame.

Line 3

六三 眇能視。跛能履。履虎尾。咥人凶。武人為于大君。

miǎoone-eyed
néngcan
shìto see
lame
néngcan
to walk
treading
tiger
wěitail
diéthe bitten
rénone's
xiōngmisfortune
military
rénone
wéiacts
in the place of
great
jūnsuperior

Six in the third place means: A one-eyed man is able to see, A lame man is able to tread. He treads on the tail of the tiger. The tiger bites the man. Misfortune. Thus does a warrior act on behalf of his great prince.

Line 5

九五 夬履。貞厲。

guàidetermined
tread
zhēnpersistence
stressful

Nine in the fifth place means: Resolute conduct. Perseverance with awareness of danger.

Line 6

上九 視履考祥。其旋元吉。

shìstudy
footsteps
kǎoexamine
xiángomens
if
xuáncome full circle
yuánsupreme
good fortune

Nine at the top means: Look to your conduct and weigh the favorable signs. When everything is fulfilled, supreme good fortune comes.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramHeaven ThunderThe Creative → The Arousing
Lower TrigramLake WindThe Joyous → The Gentle

Yilin Verse

潼滃蔚薈,膚寸來會;津液下降,流潦滂沛。

Swirling, dense, and lush; gathering from the slightest wisp. Dew and moisture descend; streams and floods rush forth in abundance.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Heaven above the lake, and moisture gathers into a great convergence. Dense mists rise lush and layered, condensing from the smallest wisp of cloud — the 'skin-inch' measure that ancient meteorologists used for the first visible condensation. Vital fluids descend, and torrential streams pour forth in overwhelming abundance. The verse traces the entire water cycle without a single human agent: vapor ascending, clouds thickening from a mere fingerbreadth, rain falling, and rivers swelling beyond their banks. From Treading to Duration, thunder and wind sustain each other in an endless reciprocal cycle. The transformation captures perseverance made visible: careful conduct, repeated consistently over time, accumulates like atmospheric moisture until it becomes an unstoppable, self-perpetuating downpour that reshapes the landscape.

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